Director of Museum Studies, Associate Professor; Museum Studies
she/her/hers
| Fall 2024 Office Hours | |
|---|---|
| hallmj@bu.edu | Office hours will usually be scheduled for Wednesdays between 3pm and 5pm via zoom. |
As a scholar and a teacher, Melanie Hall specializes in museums and preservation in Britain and North America. Her research interest focuses on the origins of world heritage, the preservation of buildings and landscapes, and the arts and preservation institutions and transatlantic networks that supported these activities in the 19th and 20th centuries. The role of museums and the visual arts in forging those connections, and how this intersects with questions of gender, race, and politics are a core focus of this research. As part of her research and teaching Prof. Hall has developed research tools and courses involving digital humanities. She is a strong advocate for collaborative, inter-disciplinary projects, involving students, academics, and practitioners. An example of this is Towards World Heritage, International Origins of the Preservation Movement 1870-1930, an edited work that arose from a working conference at Boston University that she organized, bringing together an international group of scholars and practitioners and that has been well reviewed in multiple scholarly journals. Her current work considers the origins of the (British) National Trust (now the most successful preservation organization in the world) that reveals the transatlantic dimensions of this organization, and women’s roles in its inception.
Professor Hall’s work has appeared in a range of journals including the Proceedings of the British Academy, the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Architectural History, and Furniture History. Her recent publications include an article on ‘Octavia Hill and the National Trust’ in a centenary volume commemorating the work of this remarkable Victorian woman; and a co-authored article on ‘Digital Humanities for Tourism History’.
She has received grants and fellowships from institutions including the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain; English Heritage; the Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust; the Ruskin Centre, Lancaster University; and Boston University Center for the Humanities. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London (2006).